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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

the pirate king

This is dedicated to Mrs. Kelly, who once crossed the street just to tell Kevin Kline that he is an American treasure. I agree.

A few things that stick out from the Classic Conversation with Kevin Kline:

When asked what is the secret to a successful 25 year relationship with his wife, he said: "I said no to a lot of things I wanted to do. I did projects close to home. I planned projects away from home during the summer so I could take my family with me." In other words, he made his family a priority and for that indeed he is a treasure.

He didn't start out loving Shakespeare. He thought it was boring, useless and didn't understand it. He had to grow into loving it.

He didn't know right away that he wanted to be an actor. It took him a while through school and trying out different things to figure it out. He was a musician and played the piano in a rock band, which had business cards printed with the band's name: The One-Eyed Jacks Jacks are wild!

He chooses projects because he thinks they will be fun and challenges are always fun. They are successful because the people involved are generous.

as Cyrano de Bergerac

He originally turned down the role of the Pirate King and the movie Dave. He shook his head at himself and said he finds that he's done that a lot, turned down roles initially that are actually quite good for him.

When asked how do you play stupid people so brilliantly, he replied: Because I'm stupid and I know it. It's like that quote from Socrates: "I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing." So, I am a genius.

All in all a fun night and a great insight into being creative and fearless.